A Lesson Well Learnt
by umi4ever
Summary: One-shot. Nine-year-old Shizuo is having a bad day, and it only gets worse when a boy named Katsu decides to get in his way and bug him. Rated T due to lots of depressing writing. Warning: This story gets VERY emotional. Have some tissues at the ready.


A nine-year-old Heiwajima Shizuo was having a bad day. He sat in class, bored, stomach-growling, and r_eally _craving some pudding right now. He'd had a headache all morning, which was only heightened when he hit his head on his desk after picking up his dropped-pencil as he got ready for school that morning. To top it all off, when he finally got down the stairs, Kasuka had finished the last of the corn flakes, his favorite cereal. When he opened the cupboard up, the only thing left to eat was peanut butter-flavored Cap'n Crunch. He would have eaten it, but he was allergic to pecans, and his mother was pretty paranoid about other nuts as well, so unless he wanted her to flip a shit and take a trip over to the emergency room, that wasn't happening So, with an empty stomach and a headache, Shizuo walked his brother and himself to school. The class he was in looked pretty dull and boring. It really was. That was just how he felt too- minus the hunger, pain, and sleepiness he felt.

"Alright, class, let's review last night's homework," his teacher, Sakamoto-san instructed, her short sunshine-blonde bob bouncing over her slender, petite frame, accenting her slitted, calm ocean-blue eyes and creamy light skin. She was a rather cute teacher, with a bright smile and a long-sleeved white button up and appropriately-tight tan skirt that fell halfway down her thighs. It was a great way to hide her minor dark side. With a roll of his eyes and a heavy sigh, Shizuo had the homework out. Thankfully, the work hadn't been very hard the prior night.

"Alright, hmm," she asked, surveying the crowd and trying to find someone whose paper wasn't filled out. "Ahh, Taniguchi Katsu," she addressed a student in the back row, whose homework was incomplete. "Share with us the answer to question number one from last night's homework," she spat out. The poor kid gulped and looked down at his empty paper, long black hair falling over his dark brown eyes.

"Umm, ummm," he stuttered, looking around for help.

"Well, Taniguchi-san? We're waiting?" she demanded, with a tap of her foot. The boy looked down sadly.

"I –uhh- don't know the answer to the question. I'm sorry, Sakamoto-san," he said, keeping his eyes downcast.

"I am very disappointed in you," she announced, marking off 'no' on the 'Completed homework' box on the sheet of paper on the top of her big binder, and looking for another target. When she looked away, the kid -Katsu- got a devious look on his face and shrugged, as if he didn't really care about his grades. She noticed Shizuo leaning to the right with his head in his hand, looking rather flushed and frustrated. That annoying humble apology had almost pushed him to his limit. "Heiwajima-san, would you mind answering the question for your fellow classmates?" Sakamoto-san asked, smiling as nicely as she could. Shizuo looked up at her, slightly taken aback and confused-and rather upset he had been awoken from his day-dreams of honey-doo pudding. Why would she call on him? Was she really that cruel? He wasn't called on very often-he knew most of the teachers were even scared that if he got the wrong answer he'd flip a shit and try to strangle them. He figured that's just the way your life's ought to be when you're who he is, though.

"Oh, um," he stuttered as well, looking down at his paper and blinking to be able to clarify what he had even answered-which was hard considering the extent of the headache he was currently powering through. Finally, it was all clear. "Um, four-hundred seventy-eight?" he asked, checking for confirmation. Sakamoto-san smiled.

"Very good, Shizuo," she replied, checking off 'yes' on her paper. From the back of the room, he heard someone say 'Four-hundred seventy-eight' and an annoying squeaky voice whispered, and pretend to snort like a geek. He turned around to see Katsu pretending to push glasses up his nose, and turned back around furiously, not-wanting to get caught. Sakamoto-san hadn't noticed the bullying in the back of the room. Hell, if it wasn't for Shizuo's basically hyper-sensitive hearing, he wouldn't even have. Either way, he didn't understand it. Why was he making fun of him? He wasn't _that_ smart, the homework had been damn easy. He had just cared enough about his grades to do it. He rolled his eyes and continued to listen to the teacher, making sure he had gotten the other answers just as right. The class continued to review the answers. When they moved onto Japanese class-the equivalent of English class for Japanese students-he wished he was in America where they switched classes for every subject, just to get away from that damned Katsu. In between classes, Sakamoto-san had opened the window, letting in the wind. It felt good on Shizuo's cheeks, being in the front row on the edge of the desk-area, right next to the window. Unfortunately, this didn't last. Twenty minutes into the class, the winds shifted, blowing pollen particles into the classroom. Shizuo, of course, had bad allergies, and let's not forget about his sensitive nose either. His eyes began to water and he sniffled a little. Wiping his eyes, he tried to get back to work, summarizing the assigned pages they had read last night. Sooner or later, his nose began to tickle. He tried rubbing it away, but the sensation was persistent. His breath hitched a little bit. It was actually rather cute to watch, a 9-year-old's little chest heaving as he gasped with adorable little sounds and made a cute pre-sneeze face. Katsu, of course, did not find this adorable. He noticed Shizuo's hitching breath, which set him up for more teasing. Shizuo cupped his cute little hands over his nose and sneezed, making a petite little _'Pu-choo!_' sound and bending slightly. It was followed by another. And another. And another. Perfect. Everyone looked up, a few kids were about to carelessly bless him out of reflex when "WOW! FOUR ERUPTIONS IN A ROW FROM JAPAN'S MOST ACTIVE VOLCANO! THE ONE, THE ONLY, THE DEADLY… HEIWAJIMA SHIZUO!" came barreling out from the back of the room. Everyone laughed at loud and pretended to look shocked and scared. There sat Katsu, proudly grinning after screaming it from the top of his lungs. Shizuo was so frustrated at this. He had to get a new pencil after his snapped in half in his hand. However, he couldn't hurt the kid. No. He would be embarrassed in front of everyone, and besides- the kid was popular anyway. Everyone would hate him. And then he would tell his well-known rich parents, who would file a law suit against the school and the Heiwajima family. And then they would have to put him up for adoption or something. He shivered at the thought, trying to pay close attention to his schoolwork. But no, Katsu wasn't finished yet. Hell, he was nowhere _near _finished with him. "Airways will be shut down to prevent volcanic ash from entering the-" Just then, Sakamoto-san walked back into the room from her bathroom break. She sat back down at her desk and took a bite of the Pocky she was snacking on while teaching. She had missed the entire thing.

"Okay, you can all hand in your summaries now. Upside-down. No looking at someone's paper and jotting down something you forgot before they're handed in." she instructed with a mouth-full of the chocolaty candy. They handed their papers in. When Shizuo got the last paper from his row, he rolled his eyes. As if he wasn't already pissed and embarrassed enough, there was a tiny note on the back. A short, yet bome-chilling note.

"_Dear Shizuo,_

_I'm having such a dandy time playing with you!_

_I have a feeling we're gonna play together a lot._

_I just can't wait to play with you some more!_

_I'm nowhere through playing with you._

_It should be fun._

_Until we play again,_

_Your best friend"_

Shizuo gulped. The way he had described his abuse as 'playing' made him feel sick. He wasn't hungry at all anymore. He really didn't want to be abused by this kid anymore, and he just couldn't take it. This had been going on for months on end. He felt sicker thinking about the past experiences. He must have really looked a wreck when he handed the papers in, because Sakamoto-san gently pulled him down to her chair by his scrawny little wrist and put a hand to his forehead, all the cruelty draining from her face and laving a concerned frown. Normally, if anyone so much as brushed by him, he would jerk away and instantly feel the need to inflict them with physical pain, but the way she touched him was just _different. _It wasn't to annoy him, or to hurt him, or to get a rise out of him- it was just to care of him and make sure he was okay, and to comfort him. Her hand felt nice and cool against his forehead, which was now hot from being so frustrated.

"You don't look too good, Heiwajima-san," she commented, writing him a pass. "You feel a little warm, too. Why don't you go to the nurse's office?" she suggested, handing him the pass. She was a Godsend. He thanked her and nodded, heading out of the classroom. As he walked the halls alone, he glanced over his shoulder constantly, to check for anyone who might see him and tease him. In the nurse's office, all he could think about was the letter. _'Playing with you.' _It made him feel sicker by the minute, and he had actually turned green. The nurse held a bucket in front of him as he threw up-threw up from pure _fear._ An hour later, his mom picked him up from the school, wearing a worried expression on her face. She kissed his sweaty-forehead and let him sleepily lean on her as they left the building together. When they got home, she made him drink some ginger ale and take some medicine that would lower the 'fever' he had developed. She lay her son in bed, tucking him in and kissing his soft, warm cheek this time. She told her son to get some rest, not to drink too much milk since it would upset his stomach, and told him she loved him as she left the room and went back to work. Finally alone in his room, the events from earlier flashed across Shizuo's mind, upsetting him. In a rare occurance, Heiwajima Shizuo actually cried. He cried, and cried, and cried. He cried about all the people who were afraid of him, he cried about all the people who hated him, and he cried about all the people who wished him unhappiness. He cried for hours, finally crying himself to sleep. When he awoke after hours of much needed sleep, he found a little note next to his bed. It read.

"_Don't cry, Milky!_

_I love you, and I don't like it when you cry!_

_Be happy, the happy people in this world love you too!_

_And they have to love themselves to do that._

_Kisses,_

…_take a wild guess"_

Shizuo smiled. Kasuka was the only person in the world who called him that. It was his longtime nickname from him, since he adored milk so much. And who other then a seven-year-old would sign a card _"Kisses,"_? Exactly.

That day, Shizuo learned an important lesson- that if people didn't like him, or wanted to hurt him, that was their problem. Not his. They were insecure about themselves and jealous of him-and he didn't have to waste his time around people like that. He didn't need to change anything about him. He was perfect the way he was. Inhuman strength, frail body, love of milk, allergies and all. He was _perfect._

When he went back to school two days later, the cruel antics continued. When Katsu shouted "Get inside kids, it's thundering!" after he coughed, and "Earthquake!" when he had the hiccups, he just laughed along. He didn't hate Katsu anymore; he actually kind of felt bad for him. He knew he didn't realize that the people who didn't love _him _were just unhappy with themselves, and he didn't realize he was one of those people to Shizuo too. Which was fine with Shizuo-the kid would find out someday. He knew was the same way once. Even if it bugged him a little, he was emotionally strong enough and secure enough with himself now to be able to poke fun at who he was, and accept himself the way he was.

_Perfect._

And then he met Orihara Izaya. Now _that's_ another story.

FIN.


End file.
